Dear J,

 

I refer to your request of 30 September 2024.

 

The rationale for renaming the University’s Doctor of Medicine programme
to the Doctor of Medical Science is as follows:

 

"At the programme review of the Doctor of Medicine in August 2019, the
Review Panel strongly recommended that the MD title needed to be changed.

This is to differentiate it from:

• the undergraduate degrees in the USA and Australia

• the MD at the University of Otago, which is a higher doctorate
comparable with the University of Auckland Doctor of Science.

Subsequent wide consultation within the School of Medicine and the Faculty
of Medical and Health Sciences revealed little agreement on a future
preferred name. The other recommended changes from the review

were approved through CUAP in 2021, but the name change was not included
at that time.

We now have a Faculty agreement on the preferred name, and we wish to
re-address this issue.

The use of Doctor of Medical Sciences (DMedSc) aligns well with the
current faculty offerings such as the Bachelor of Medical Sciences Honours
(BMedSc Hons) and the Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc).

It further aligns well with the faculty name – Faculty of Medical and
Health Sciences – that we would now offer doctorates in both Medical and
Health Sciences."

 

There are no plans to rename the University’s Bachelor of Medicine and
Surgery (MBChB) programme to a Doctor of Medicine (MD)..

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Landon Watt
Legal Advisor
Office of the Vice-Chancellor

Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland  

 

 

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